THE Securitas robber who sacked his counsel and attempted to go it alone against one of the sharpest minds in the legal world has been described by his ex-wife as "the most violent, abusive person you could ever wish to meet".

Diane Turner said her ex-husband Stuart Royle could "come across as a really charming man" but in reality was very different.

Royle was born in Staffordshire in July 1967 and, after moving to Maidstone, attended Cornwallis School in Linton.

He and Maidstone-born wife Diane, whose maiden name is Sedge, were living in Sheffield at the time of the birth of their twin daughters, Christina and Victoria, in July 1984.

They had moved back to Maidstone by the time their son James was born in 1987.

The couple split in the 1990s and Diane, a former pupil at Southborough Girls' School, went on to marry Barry Turner and moved to Gillingham.

'Misplaced loyalty'

She said: "I do admire, in one sense, Chrisy and James's loyalty to him but I'm afraid it's misplaced.

"He has no type of respect for anyone or anything, if it's a means to an end. He doesn't care who he hurts along the way. I feel sorry for James and Christina; they've been left without him.

"But he never provided them with any tools to be anything but totally dependent on him – knowing he was planning to do something like this apparently two years before."

Mrs Turner said she had not spoken to Royle for about nine years. However, she did attend his first hearing at Maidstone Crown Court.

For more on the Securitas case, see this week's Kent Messenger.

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